Kurt Reinhard was a

Righteous Among the Nations Righteous Among the Nations ( he, חֲסִידֵי אֻמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם, ; "righteous (plural) of the world's nations") is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to sav ...

Life

By profession an amateur photographer, he helped a Jew, Eliezer Thum, who owned a photography business in German-occupied

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

and who survived with his family during the German rule thanks to Kurt Reinhard. He helped by providing them with the most necessary food (see first phase of the persecution of Jews); in the course of which he met Thum's cousin, Mina Scharf. When Reinhard was transferred to

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

in 1941, he advised the families of Thum and Scharf to leave Poland with false identity papers. He even promised that he would provide Mina, whom he met in

Tarnów Tarnów () is a city in southeastern Poland with 105,922 inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of 269,000 inhabitants. The city is situated in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship since 1999. From 1975 to 1998, it was the capital of the Tarnów ...

on the way to the Russian front, and all family members with false identity papers. After some turmoil and effort, Reinhard was able to bring Mina to Germany. She came as a Polish foreign worker to

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

. Later he even got her an ID of the Verband der Deutschen im Ausland (Association of Germans Abroad), which allowed her greater freedom of movement. Kurt Reinhard managed to bring the rest of Mina's relatives to safety in Germany (the family of Mina, her uncle Thum, and others).

External links

Righteous Among the Nations

– his activity to save Jews' lives during the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

, at

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...

website Austrian Righteous Among the Nations Austrian photographers Possibly living people Year of birth missing {{Austria-bio-stub